“Gotta dance!” is what Gene Kelly insists in
Singin’ in the Rain, and none of the driven young people featured in the irresistible
First Position would do anything but enthusiastically agree.

First Position, directed by Bess Kargman, is in part the latest wrinkle in a documentary
subgenre that has proved wildly popular.

Combine eager youngsters with the elixir of competition, and, whether it’s spelling-bee rivals
in
Spellbound or recreational dancers in
Mad Hot Ballroom, you have a formula for audience engagement.

But because
First Position is set in the world of classical ballet competition, the situation is even
more compelling and emotionally involving. For young people, it’s more than a hobby or a sidelight.
Ballet consumes lives and involves an overwhelming commitment of time, money and emotion.

Also upping the ante is that the kids profiled are truly, madly, deeply in love with dance.

What is at stake in these competitions is more than momentary recognition or success; it is a
life path.

Not doing well enough to be able to take the next step is the equivalent of being told you aren’t
going to be allowed to fall in love.

First Position focuses on not just any ballet competition but on the Youth America Grand
Prix, one of the world’s premier events. It starts with 5,000 entrants and concludes with 300
contestants in the tense finals held annually in New York. Unlike the situation in
Spellbound, where the nature of the event allows for only one winner, this contest — which
awards scholarships and company contracts as well as trophies — allows for a handful of successful
competitors, though the battle for these good things is still intense.

The seven kids on whom
First Position focuses have been carefully chosen by filmmaker Kargman, who started with
advice from Grand Prix officials, then put her background as a journalist to good use.

These young dancers have traits such as perfectionism and zeal in common, and they have made
similar life decisions, often opting for home-schooling to ensure more time to dance. But they are
very different in personality, background and situation. Kargman knows the importance of taking the
time to introduce each dancer fully, so that, by the time everyone starts to compete at the Grand
Prix, we will be invested in their stories.

Perhaps the most compelling human-interest story belongs to Michaela DePrince, a 14-year-old war
orphan from Sierra Leone who was adopted by a family in Philadelphia. Michaela has to fight the
prejudice that “everyone knows black girls can’t dance ballet.”

The dancer who tries the hardest to have a well-

adjusted teenage life is Rebecca Houseknecht, who jokes that she became a cheerleader as “
another attempt at normalcy.”

These performers are so young, so serious, so full of dreams and so hard on themselves that it
is difficult not to be moved by their striving. With their futures on the line, each one has, as
one of the judges comments, “five minutes onstage to prove why you deserve this chance and not
somebody else.”